Communicating With the Legislature
Overview
DNA legislation is becoming more common.1 As a result, careful drafting of prospective bills and effective communication with the legislature is critical.2 Communicating with a legislative body is more complex than just writing good legislation and presenting it to receptive sponsors. The process includes defining the specifics of the proposal, including all agencies interested in the drafting of the legislation, building consensus and presenting the bill to the legislature.3,4 The bill needs to be analyzed at each step to determine if it is likely to pass the legislature and provide the expected outcome to positively impact the criminal justice process.
1 National Conference of State Legislatures DNA Laws Database »
2 Richard Williams and Sarah Hammond, Building Forensic Technology Capacity, National Conference of State Legislatures: (Nov. 2009) PDF download: 1.4MB
3 New York All Crimes Convictions DNA Podcast – Governor’s Bill (April 28, 2010) • Read excerpt »
4 New York State, Division of Criminal Justice Services Enhancing Public Safety and Improving Criminal Justice Report pp16 PDF download: 1.1MB • Visit the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services »